Now they tell us. There are an array of things that have come out since the election that show just how weak the economy is, and demonstrate why President Obama would prefer to be off doing a photo-op in the far East, where no one is asking uncomfortable questions about things like the recovery, for instance.

Poverty is climbing, just in time for Thanksgiving. California is the most spectacular failure of our time. A beautiful state with natural wealth that once seemed to be a land of opportunity.40 years of liberal governance have brought the state to destitution. The government is broke and productive citizens and their businesses are fleeing the state for anywhere where they will be better treated. Calls up my favorite Walter Wriston quotation:

Capital will go where it is wanted and stay where it is well treated. It will flee from manipulation or onerous regulation of its value or use and no governmental power can restrain it for long.

The Golden State’s poverty rate is a whopping 23.5 percent — higher than the District of Columbia, at 23.2 percent and even Florida at 19.5 percent. California does have a higher cost of living, but cities are going bankrupt right and left. People are packing up and moving out, an action common to Democrat-run states who are losing their wealthiest and most productive citizens. In the meantime, San Francisco is banning nudity, except for parades.

Earnings are falling. Real average hourly earnings dropped in October for the third months in a row, and are now down 2% from what they were when Obama took office. National Restaurant chains are moving to reduce employees hours to 28. Obama lowered the definition of full-time work to 30 hours a week, to jack up the number of full-time-workers, so they have to go below that to make them part-time. This is because of the onerous costs and fines when ObamaCare takes effect on Jan.1.

Food-stamp enrollment is exploding. Another report, conveniently timed for release after the election, found food stamp enrollment has skyrocketed by more than 420,000 in August.The number of people on food stamps has climbed more than 15 million under Obama. They would probably prefer to have jobs. A bipartisan group of Democrat and Republican Senators have requested the White House reconsider it’s position on the Keystone XL pipeline, which would provide hundreds of needed jobs in construction and thousands of spinoff jobs.

Inflation is creeping up.The annual inflation rate climbed to 2.2% in October, the third consecutive monthly increase. Perhaps you’ve noticed the shrinking size of a what used to be a 5 lb. sack of sugar or flour.

Coal-fired power plants are closing. A report from the Liberal Union of concerned Scientists released a week after the election finds that as many as 353 coal-fired plants will close as a result of Obama’s environmental regulations. If you have power outages this winter, contact the White House.

Small Banks are disappearing. Fortune reported 3 days after the election that the “overwhelming conclusion” of industry analysts was that Dodd-Frank would cause thousands of small banks to disappear. One month before the election, the same reporter at the same magazine blasted Romney for saying during a presidential debate that Dodd-Frank was” killing regional and small banks.”

Yes, it’s a weak recovery. It didn’t have to be like this. It is weak because of poor choices made. We could change direction.